Misters of Love
A Small Town Protectors Boxset
Piper Sullivan
Copyright © 2020 by Piper Sullivan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Also By Piper Sullivan
Small Town Protectors (Tulip Series)
That Hot Night
I’ve known Janey my whole life, the bossy girl next door.
Always with her face hidden behind a camera.
Until one hot night, when I finally saw her. In a red dress.
She hypnotized me. Mesmerized me.
Opened my eyes to Janey, the woman.
And now that I’ve had a taste of her, nothing will ever be the same.
Not me.
And certainly not us.
To Catch A Player, Book 11: A Second Chance Romance
Cold Hearted Love, Book 10: A Sheriff Romance
Hero Boss, Book 9: An Office Romance
Dr's Orders, Book 8: A Single Mom Romance
Mastering Her Curves, Book 7: A Curvy Girl Romance
Kissing My Best Friend, Book 6: A Fake Relationship Romance
Undesired, Book 5: A Best Friend's Brother Romance
Wanting Ms Wrong, Book 4: A Second Chance Baby Romance
Loving My Enemy, Book 3: An Enemies to Lovers Romance
Bad Boy Benefits, Book 2: A Roommate Hero Romance
Hero In My Bed, Book 1: A Roommate Hero Romance
Accidental Hookups
Accidentally Hitched: An Accidental Marriage Romance (Accidental Hookups Book 1)
Accidentally Wed: An Accidental Marriage Romance (Accidental Hookups Book 2)
Accidentally Bound: An Accidental Marriage Romance (Accidental Hookups Book 3)
Accidentally Wifed: An Accidental Marriage Romance (Accidental Hookups Book 4)
Boardroom Games
His Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 1)
Sinful Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 2)
Naughty Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games 3)
Standalones
Stranded: A Mountain Man Romance
Dating the Doctor: A Single Dad Romance
Dr. Daddy Next Door: A Single Dad Romance
Cowboy's Fake Fiancée: A Single Dad & A Virgin Romance
Cowboy's Barmaid: A Small Town Military Romance
Let's Pretend : A Fake Fiancée Romance
I’ll Pretend : A Fake Fiancée Romance
Boxsets & Collections
Misters of Pleasure: A Small Town Protectors Boxset
Daddies & Nannies: A Contemporary Romance Boxset
Cowboys & Bosses: A Contemporary Romance Boxset
Kiss Me, Love Me: An Alpha Male Romance Boxset
Accidentally On Purpose:An Accidental Marriage Boxset
Small Town Misters: A Small Town Protectors Boxset
Contents
Mastering Her Curves
Dr’s Orders
Hero Boss
Extended Epilogue
Preview: That Hot Night
Also By Piper Sullivan
About the Author
Mastering Her Curves
It was only supposed to be one little kiss. Two sets of lips pressed together for a few seconds. That’s what it should have been. But what was supposed to be, and what was, turned out to be two completely different things…
Nate
It was only supposed to be one little kiss. Two sets of lips pressed together for a few seconds, all for the sake of charity. That’s what it should have been. Easy peasy. But what was supposed to be and what was turned out to be two completely different things and here I was a month later, still thinking about that damn kiss.
But it wasn’t just a kiss and it wasn’t just the kiss that kept me distracted and horny. It was the woman herself. Mikki Mahoney. Four weeks ago, she’d strolled up to the kissing booth and slammed a twenty-dollar bill on the counter with more attitude than was necessary. I recognized it for what it was: false bravado. The curvy little shop owner had something to prove, more to herself than to me, and that had intrigued the hell out of me. It was the only explanation for what had happened next.
“What’s this?” I glanced down at the cash, with a smirk curling my lips and my arms folded across my chest.
Mikki squared delicate shoulders, laid bare in a figure-hugging green dress that made her hazel eyes look like liquid gold, and looked me right in the eyes. “That would be money, sugar. As required by the rules of the kissing booth, unless I’m mistaken?” The fake innocence dripping from her sexy southern drawl was irresistible and I leaned in real close.
“It’s double the cost of a kiss. Does that mean you’re looking for two kisses, Mikki?”
We’d been circling each other pretty much since she’d arrived in Tulip, but it hadn’t been clear until that moment whether we would kill each other or end up naked and sweaty together.
She rolled her eyes and fisted both hands on her curvy hips, a move that accentuated her hourglass figure. A move that made my mouth go dry. Instantly. “No, it means I want you to make this one kiss worth the cost of two, since this is for charity, after all.”
Dammit, that sass had done it for me in a big damn way—more so on that hot summer day, especially when her pink tongue snaked out and slicked across plump, pink lips. “I do aim to please.”
“That’s what I hear.” The teasing quality had left her voice and Mikki took a step back. “So?”
Was that a challenge I heard in her voice? It definitely was, and I was a man who couldn’t resist a challenge, particularly one as tempting as the Mississippi transplant. “Just figurin’ out the best plan of attack.”
She snorted a laugh that was as sexy as it was annoying. “Press lips together and kiss,” she suggested sarcastically. “Maybe your reputation is nothing more than exaggeration.”
Her disappointed tone hit me with the force of a fist straight to my gut. And my ego. When she turned to walk away, leaving the twenty-dollar bill on the surface between us, my hand reached out and wrapped around her wrist.
She turned and eyed me skeptically before attempting to flay me with that chilly glare of hers. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, Nate Callahan?”
“I’m proving to you that nothing about me is an exaggeration.” It was a cheesy-ass line and we both knew it, but before anyone—including the peanut gallery nearby—could say another word, my lips were on Mikki’s.
The kiss had started out tentative, both of us trying to get to know each other, our likes and dislikes, before deepening the kiss. At least, I’d thought that was the plan, but Mikki’s tongue scraped across my bottom lip and then my top lip, taking advantage of my surprise to slip inside my mouth and steal my next breath. Correction, my next fifty breaths.
She was a wildcat underneath that proper southern belle routine she put on for the people of Tulip and her customers, but that kiss told another story, and when our tongues touched, I knew how this would end. It was the only way it possibly could end, with the sparks shooting off between us and electricity arcing between our bodies. One of her hands tangled in my hair and pulled me close and my own hands went to her slender waist, sliding down to those hips I’d been thinking about for weeks. I grip
ped her and held her close, taking control of the kiss until I heard the soft, erotic moan slip from her lips.
It had driven me crazy, taking all of the restraint I could muster not to strip her down right there in the middle of the food festival and the whole damn town and show her just how real the rumors about me were. But I couldn’t.
“Get a room,” Eddy Henderson had called out with a laugh, bringing us both back to the present and aware of the audience that surrounded us.
“Crap,” I muttered with a smile. “Totally worth the gossip.”
Mikki’s fingertips went to her lips and a shocked smile played around the edges of her mouth. “I don’t know about that just yet,” she said, clearly having been privy to more than a few of the rumors swirling around town—some true, some false, and some so outrageous no one could tell the difference. “But Nate?”
“Yeah?”
She grinned and took a step back with a flirty wink. “It was definitely worth the cost of the kiss. See you around.” With a sexy little finger wave, she walked away, leaving me hard and hot and ready for more.
“Count on it, sweetheart.” There was a small hint of satisfaction when my words caused her to trip over her own feet, and I knew there would be a later for us. Very soon.
“We’re burnin’ daylight here, Callahan. Wipe those dirty thoughts out of your head and put on your game face.” Janey snapped her fingers in front of me until I blinked myself back to the present. “Think about those perverted things on your own time.” The smile threatening to break free took the sting off her words, but I knew she meant them.
Still, it pissed me off to be caught daydreaming about a woman I shouldn’t be thinking about, even though Janey had no way of knowing who was occupying my thoughts. “This is my own time. I’m here as a volunteer, remember?”
Over the past few months, a sense of regret had crept in because, every other day, it felt like a Hometown Hero was required for something or other. It had turned into my least favorite thing, a big damn deal, and quite honestly, I was over it. All of it. Hell, that damn kissing booth was the reason I was so distracted lately, mostly. The kissing booth and the woman. Mikki. What the hell kind of name was Mikki, anyway?
Too bad it wasn’t her name causing the sleepless nights or the cold showers, nor it was those sweet, exaggerated curves that made my mind instantly think of sex. That small waist that flared into hips that were more than a handful and a round ass that was perfect for grabbing onto while I thrust from behind. Something I now knew as a fact—and would know forever, since it was permanently etched into my mind.
“Damn you Nate,” Janey growled. “You’re doing it again.” She glanced around the state park where I spent most of my day, and up at the sun that would soon start its decline behind the horizon.
“Sorry,” I told her honestly and when she aimed the camera at me, I did my best to give her the brooding look she kept asking for. Whatever the hell that meant.
After a few shots, she removed the camera from in front of her face and perched a hand on her hip, expression filled with attitude and irritation. With me. “Want to talk about it?”
Hell no. “About what?”
“Fine.” Janey threw her arms in the air, exasperated. “You don’t want to talk about it, fine by me. At least give me the next fifteen minutes before the sun goes away completely. Do you think you can do that, Nate?” Janey was always a feisty one. Petite and fiery, with big green eyes that revealed every emotion the moment she experienced it, she was a force to be reckoned with—which is how I’d ended up spending the afternoon on my day off deep in the woods with the bossy photographer.
“I can do that,” I told her with a confident nod I didn’t feel. Mikki was a sneaky woman, creeping into my thoughts at the most unexpected times. It was always the smallest things that made me think of her. The red on Big Mama’s diner menus reminded me of the shade often found on her plump mouth. The flowery scent that permeated Tulip reminded me of her sexy, earthy scent with floral undertones.
“Nate,” Janey growled again, and I snapped my focus back to the lens just a few feet from me.
“Sorry.” I shoved my hands in my pocket and gave her my best innocent look.
“That’s better,” she admitted, still not sounding pleased with me. “Just tell me what, or who, is on your mind so maybe we can get this done today.”
“Nothing to talk about,” I growled at her, my eyes dark and clearly communicating that I had nothing to say.
“Fine. We’re done then.” Annoyed, Janey slipped the cover on her camera lens and turned away from me. It didn’t take a genius to see she was genuinely pissed off and I was the reason. “We need to come back to finish some other day.”
“Yeah, okay. We’ll have to work around my schedule, but—”
“No!” She whirled on me, aiming that heavy camera in my direction with a scowl on her face. “You were distracted all day. Everyone else managed to get all their photos done in one damn day, but not you, because you’re so special.” Another disgust-filled head shake and Janey was shoving items into her bags with more force than was necessary for such delicate equipment. “I’ll let you know when I have time to finish your photos.”
I watched Janey stalk down the incline that would, in a couple miles, lead to the Orley exit parking lot. “Janey, ah hell, I’m sorry. You’re right, I am distracted.” She turned with a surprised glare and I held my hands up. “I don’t want to talk about it, but you were right, my mind wasn’t on the task at hand today.”
“Who was it on, Callahan?”
“No one,” I answered quickly. Too quickly, it turned out.
Janey laughed and smacked a hand to her thigh. “Damn, I’d love to meet the woman who’s bringing the great Nate Callahan to his knees.”
“Not possible.” I wasn’t on my knees or anywhere close to them, except when I had those creamy thighs wrapped tight around my shoulders, but that was physical. Not emotional, because there were no emotions involved.
“So said every Hometown Hero who came before you, yet look at them all. Married or engaged, and most with a baby on the way.” Her smug smile said she knew more than I thought she did, but that was impossible, so I shook it off.
“That’s ‘cause they were all whipped. No chance of that happening with me.”
Janey didn’t respond, and we spent the next fifteen minutes working to pack up her equipment in silence before heading down to the parking lot.
“Maybe a little bit of whipping is what you need to get out of this funk you’re in. You’re even more of a grouch than you usually are.”
I ignored the amusement in her eyes and jumped in my truck, heading into Tulip proper for dinner. Of course, the moment I turned onto the main strip in town, I spotted her.
Mikki. Today, she wore a pinkish-orange dress with no straps, and the dress hugged her curves tight and those damn impractical wedge shoes gave her hips just enough swing that I had to stay in my car for a few minutes before stepping into Big Mama’s diner.
Mikki
“Hey sis, how are things deep in the heart of Texas?” My sister Rocky’s voice sounded down the line as I walked from my shop—Pretty Feathers, located on Main Street in the tiny town of Tulip—towards the three bedroom bungalow I rented.
My heart swelled at the sound of her voice. “Things are just peachy, Rocky. How’s summer treatin’ you, baby sis?”
Rocky groaned at the question and I could just imagine her sitting on that big bay window in her bedroom overlooking Mama’s precious flower garden, one leg crossed while she twirled one thick curl around her finger. “Summer? What’s that?” She was being vague on purpose and I knew part of it was my fault for leaving. “Enough about my boring life—tell me all about your new life, starting with the smoking hot Texas men.”
That pulled a laugh out of me and I shook my head at my irreverent younger sister, even though she could’t see me. “There is definitely plenty of eye candy around these parts, most of’em
come in uniforms or well-worn denim—and I have to say, my eyes have never been hungrier.”
“I knew it!” She laughed down the line and the sound had the desired effect, making me home sick. Just the slightest, but still. “Any of them worth mentioning?”
My mind instantly conjured up an image of Nate, big and gruff with that thick shock of red hair, matching beard, and those piercing green eyes. The man was hotter than a Texas summer—and a hundred times as sexy—but he was also a player of the highest order, and I’d already left one of those back in Mississippi. “Nope.”
“Liar,” she accused, because I was a horrible liar and because no one knew me better than my kid sister. “Fine; if you’re living the life of a nun, tell me how the shop is doing?”
Now that was something I could talk about all day and night. “It’s going so great, Rocky. Thanks to all the tourism, sales are even better than anticipated and the online sales have doubled in the past month, which is probably thanks to Hope’s lingerie line.” When I’d first moved to Tulip, it felt a lot like running away—which I was—but now, things felt different. “I think this move was the best thing for me.”
“Gee, thanks sis,” she snorted.
“You know what I mean, Rocky. The business is doing well, and I have some new friends—real friends who actually give a damn about me and don’t care one bit who Daddy is or how much money he has, and they don’t care how far back Mama’s lineage may go.” Because despite her proclamations, there was some doubt.
“I really am happy for you Mikki,” she said on a wistful sigh. “I guess that means I can kiss goodbye to any thoughts of you coming home anytime soon?”
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